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Monday, August 31, 2009

All of Friday we waited for the phone call. Finally, at around 7:30 PM MST, my son called me: little Keira was born at 7:22 PM MST:

We went down to see her Saturday morning. I told my son I guess devastating good looks skip a generation, because Keira obviously got hers from her mom and her Grandpa.

I was sitting outside at Starbucks on Friday night, talking to another customer about being grandparents, and I reached over to just idly spin the right pedal on the Giant. It didn't spin, but turned in a very jerky manner that said "bearings." Sunday I stopped by The Bike Barn and got a new set of platform pedals for it.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Nashbar emailed me yesterday, and said the Trekking ATB/Hybrid "Butterfly" Handlebars will be back in stock in October. No details, but it is certainly great news. If they are the same price I paid ($22 USD) for the ones on the Yukon "Roadley," I may buy two more: one for my son and one for "backup."

I have to (continue to) rave about these bars. If you grab the front loop of the Trekking bars, and rest your forearms on grip portion at the back, you are down every bit as low as you would be on a drop handlebar. Plus the fact that, unlike a drop handlebar, you are expending virtually no energy holding yourself up. A bonus is the fact that the Trekking bars are aluminum and much lighter than the original, flat handlebar of the Giant.

Monday, August 24, 2009

For a change of pace this morning, I rode the Giant Roadley rather than the EZ Sport. Although it was interesting, there is no substitute for the feeling of "flying low" through the pre-dawn streets on the recumbent. I noticed that the maximum and average speeds I made, even pushing it by dropping down on the butterfly bars, were two miles-per-hour slower on the Giant than on the Sun.

Speaking of the butterfly bars, there was no contact from Nashbar today about the future availability of the Trekking bars. We'll see if there is something tomorrow.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

I noticed that the Nashbar Trekking ATB/Hybrid "Butterfly" handlebars, the type I have on the Giant Yukon "Roadley," are no longer listed on the Nashbar site. I sent a chat message to them, asking if they were going to be coming back, and received a response that they would get back to me this coming Monday.

I was thinking of getting those bars for my son for his Specialized Hardrock. He is living in southern Arizona and is using his bike more now to save money. If the bars are no longer available from Nashbar, it means I will have to go overseas to get them. I cannot find another American manufacturer, so I'll have to get them from either Modolo, BBB or Raleigh; a much more expensive proposition.

I'm really curious about the Nashbar's being taken off the market, since there were several reviews on the site which gave them high marks. Hopefully, it is just a glitch in production and we will see them back soon.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

We had some decent winds, lightning and rain last evening, right about the time I usually go for my Tour de Starbucks, so I stayed in and tried to convince my twelve-year-old yellow labrador that everything was going to be okay.

This morning it was a nice, cool 76 degrees. A little rain spitting every so often, but not enough to dampen my shirt completely. Starbucks was pretty busy, and that was surprising for early on a Saturday morning.

I took the Giant Roadley rather than the EZ Sport, the new Serfas Drifters tires did not slide around at all when I purposely changed direction very quickly on clumps of damp leaves and pine needles on the wet road. I think I'm going to like these tires.

Friday, August 21, 2009

I took the day off today to get some chores done around the house. But first I hopped onto the recumbent this morning to do a casual, Tour de Starbucks run.

At 7:15 AM there is much more traffic than at the time of my usual, hard pedaling morning exercise run at around 5:00 AM. This includes pedestrian traffic as well as motorists and fellow bicyclists. I will usually ride on the sidewalks on busy thoroughfares for this reason. (Riding on the sidewalk is not illegal in Arizona.)

I had gotten my drink, stowed it in the insulated bottle cage mounted on the back, left seat strut, sat down in the 'bent and worked my way out of the busy parking lot. Immediately I came up behind a college-age gal in jogging shorts and top, walking and fiddling with something in her right hand.

My usual procedure has always been to first call out "On your left" in an elevated, but friendly voice. If I get no response, I say it again in a louder, more forceful manner: "On your LEFT!" This has almost always worked in the past, but if it doesn't ... I have "Plan B."

I called out "On your left" and then noticed she had the earbuds of either an iPod or an MP3 player crammed into her ears and probably didn't hear me so I shouted "On your LEFT!" with even more vigor than I usually do. She still showed no sign of being aware of my presence, so I initiated "Plan B."

"Plan B" always happens when I am right up behind an obvious individual blocking the path. I simply let out a primal "AHHHHHH!" at the most blood curdling volume I can muster. I was particularly satisfied with this "Plan B" because I saw some brake lights of passing cars go on in response to it.

But she didn't ... even ... hear ... THAT!

It wasn't until we got to a driveway a few yards further on, which had a wheelchair ramp for the sidewalk wide enough for me to safely pass her, that she became aware of me and started as I scooted by.

Now, I am 59 years old, and I have listened to loud music all of my life (I even played bass in a rock band in my late teens and twenties), and I still put on the Boneyard on my Sirius satellite radio to listen to hard rock, but it astounds me that some young people seem to get so into whatever little electronic gadget they have that they can become totally unaware of what is going on around them.

For the rest of the morning ride, I studied the pedestrians, motorists and other bicyclists I came across. It seemed like everyone in the age range of 40 and above were busy with the task at hand: driving, riding or looking both ways before crossing the street. Everyone under the age of 40 seemed to have a cell phone or some music player stuck to the side of their head, which meant they could be a danger to themselves and other people on the roads.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

My good old Specialized bike gloves started falling apart. I was in the local Target store over the weekend and noticed they had the Bell Pro Gel cycling gloves on sale. Since I had a gift card in my wallet, it wasn't going to cost me anything to try a pair of them.

Been using them since Saturday, and they are definitely more comfortable than my worn out Specialized. I discovered an added bonus, too: I had developed a pain in the wrist of my left hand, almost like an ever-present cramp. As of this morning the pain is gone ... it's gotta be the gloves!

I have been intrigued by recumbent bicycles for a long time. Any seating position which doesn't require me to feel like a "bike rider on a stick" is very inviting. I have always been fascinated by the high tech appearance of them. And they simply really appeal to a certain rebel streak which still exists down deep inside of me.

We used to have several recumbent dealers in central Phoenix, but I guess the bad economy and the fact that recumbents are not a fast moving product has reduced it to one: Sun Cyclery on north 7th Street. In the fall of 2008, I went in to Sun Cyclery to begin looking. They carry samples of most of the major brands: RANS, Bacchetta, Sun, Lightning, Easy Racer and Cycle Genius. They also have a good selection of Long Wheelbase (LWB), Compact Long Wheelbase (CLWB) and Short Wheelbase (SWB) models to test ride.

I immediately started focusing on LWB models, for a number of reasons. I wasn't sure how I would "take" to recumbent riding, and it became obvious from the start that a LWB recumbent would be one of the easiest to ride and therefore would offer the most positive experience for a new rider. CLWB recumbents are actually more like semi-recumbents than full recumbent bikes; they usually have saddles which put you into a more upright position and give some lower back support, but they do not have the laid back, reclined webbed seat or formed seat that is one of the things which attracted me to recumbents in the first place.

The candidates were quickly reduced to two: The Cycle Genius Falcon LS and the Sun EZ Sport CX. The configuration of the two bikes is very similar. Both have a 26" rear wheel and a 20" front wheel. Both have V-Brakes and the same level of other components. And they are the identical MSRP price: $1,100.

I really like the Falcon LS. It has an aluminum frame, which makes it lighter than the EZ Sport CX. It is the same frame as the Cycle Genius Raven and the regular Falcon, which means you can customize the LS in a myriad of ways by upgrading to the components of those other two bikes. The Raven comes with dual 700c wheels, which makes it the fastest bike in the Cycle Genius line. The regular Falcon comes with disk brakes and dual 26" wheels, which make it a little more stable than the LS at high speeds and the ideal touring and commuting bike.

I was ready to buy the Falcon LS, but then we had some family medical financial issues related to our own challenges in the miserable economy and the purchase of a new bike was out of the question. My recumbent riding venture was put on indefinite hold.

After the holidays, and we had completed our 2008 taxes in late January, the financial picture looked a bit better. I once more started looking at recumbents, but with a big difference: my budget for a bike had been reduced to $1,000 or less. This would appear to eliminate both the EZ Sport and the Falcon. I could go to a used bike but I wanted something which, if I experienced problems, I could take into the dealer and get fixed under warranty. Although I am a pretty handy general mechanic, I do not have the equipment or tools to work with derailleur systems and the other special components of bicycles.

Then, at the beginning of February, 2009, came a big break. The bike shop I have gone to for years, The Bike Barn, also sells Sun recumbents. They had a new, 2008 model EZ Sport CX sitting in their shop, at a 10 percent discount. They have always given me an additional discount, no matter what, so I could walk out of the store with the bike for around $950. Although the EZ Sport had not been my first candidate, this was a great deal, and the EZ Sport did have a certain, desirable quality which I'll get to a little bit later.

I had also set aside two hundred dollars for options, which was not included in my base budget. I bought a Blackburn Voyager 3.3/Mars 3.0 headlight/taillight combination package, a Specialized SpeedZone wireless computer, a Serfas Big Stick mini pump, a couple of standard bottle cages, a Sunlite Tubular seat bag, a Zéfal rear rack and a Jandd Rack Pack II. I went slightly over that two hundred dollar accessory budget with that Rack Pack bag, but I had discovered my Jandd Economy Panniers did not hold all the stuff I wanted to take on my commutes.

I took the EZ Sport home, rode it around for a couple of hours, discovered I thoroughly enjoyed it, showed it with pride to my wife when she got home, got thoroughly chewed out, and the next week I started commuting to work on the bike.
The first thing I noticed was that everyone saw the bike, and any concerns I had about visibility were groundless. Kids yell out "Nice bike, mister!" Cars give the Sport a really wide berth, much more than the three feet required by Arizona law. Pedestrians at intersections come up to me and ask me all kinds of questions about the bike.

Although the recumbent is not difficult to ride, it is a very different riding experience and requires different riding techniques. When I first started riding it, I found that I got the low speed "wobblies" at a much higher speed than on an upright bike. Starting out from a standing stop was very wobbly also, but I discovered a way to start which eliminates that, and I believe I wobble even less on a recumbent start now than I do on an upright bike. The key is to have the bike in a pretty low gear, use my strong right leg against the pedal to get moving, and then supplement the starting speed by kicking off with my left foot on the ground in much the same way a skateboarder kicks off with his power foot. Start ups are very quick using this technique.

Another aspect of the 'bent riding experience is the confidence of the low, laid back riding position. I felt so confident that I purchased an accessory I would never purchase for an upright bicycle: clipless pedals. My 1986 Batavus Course had come with clip pedals, and perched up in the seat I found them very awkward to use. I couldn't imagine using clipless pedals in that position; I could just imagine not being able to release the shoe from the pedal and plummeting down from that high perch. I bought Shimano SPD mountain bike pedals with the cleat receivers on one side and a platform on the other; in this way I can hop on the bike and ride with my regular shoes rather than having to stop to put on the shoes with the SPD cleats.
That high position of a conventional bike is also a disadvantage in a headwind. I've read that sometimes about ninety percent of your energy on a regular bike is spent fighting the wind, and that the lower riding position of a recumbent saves up to thirty percent of that effort. I can testify that when the road goes slightly uphill into a headwind, even with a fully loaded EZ Sport I can keep up with all but the fastest road bike riders.

Some people have expressed a concern about the inability of a recumbent rider to see over other vehicles is a drawback of the design. I have to say I had the same concern when I first started riding, but no longer. I have not come across a single situation where not being able to see over an obstacle imperiled my safety.

In the months since I bought the EZ Sport, I have added a handlebar bag, a handlebar mount for my Garmin eTrex Legend GPS unit and some other items. The accessories are profiled in a post on my blog at The Complete Bluetiful.

Oh, and as far as what that special, desirable quality the EZ Sport Bluetiful has? It goes back to when I was a kid, and wanted a Schwinn Stingray. My parents could not afford it, so I had to ride a staid, 3-speed diamond frame bike. When the late Gardner Martin designed the EZ Sport, he purposely gave it a unique, classy, retro look. If you look at it just right, it looks like an adult Schwinn Stingray, so I get to have the cruiser bike I was denied as a kid.